Daniel Anthony Noriega, (born September 29, 1989) better known under the stage name Adore Delano, is an American

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

, singer-songwriter, and television personality. Noriega appeared as a contestant on the seventh season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' in 2008 and later competed as Adore Delano on the sixth season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'', placing in the final three. Delano then went on to compete on the second season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' is an American reality competition spin off edition of the original ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', which is produced by World of Wonder, for Logo TV and later VH1. The show premiered on October 22, 2012, on Logo TV, be ...

'', placing ninth after voluntarily leaving the competition. Delano has recorded and released three studio albums: ''

Till Death Do Us Party ''Till Death Do Us Party'' is the debut studio album from American singer-songwriter and drag queen, Adore Delano. The album was released through Sidecar Records in association with Producer Entertainment Group on June 3, 2014. The album was ava ...

'' (2014), '' After Party'' (2016), '' Whatever'' (2017), and one EP ''Dirty Laundry'' (2021).

Early life

Noriega was born to Bonnie Pimentel Noriega and raised in

Azusa, California Azusa (Tongva: ''Asuksa-nga'') is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 50,000 in 2020, an ...

, and attended Sierra High School, a continuation school for at-risk teenagers.

Career

2008–2009: ''American Idol'' and early work

In 2008, Noriega appeared on the seventh season of ''

'', making it to the semi-finals. He became known for his flamboyant personality and sassy rapport with the judges, notably a comment towards judge

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...

, which later went viral. After watching him on ''Idol'', Rosie O'Donnell invited Noriega to perform on her R Family Vacations cruise. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also invited Noriega to be a guest on her show. Following ''American Idol'', Noriega became a

YouTube personality A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influen ...

, performing skits in drag as Adore Delano, or Angel Baby, another drag character. In June 2009, Noriega released the music video for song "24/7," featuring sister Diamonique.

2010–present: ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and albums

After seeing ''

'' contestant

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

perform at the nightclub ''Micky's'' in West Hollywood, Delano was inspired to enter a drag competition at the club, later winning it. Following the win, Noriega started performing in Southern California as Adore Delano. Along with other ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' contestants, Adore walked the Marco Marco runway for

Los Angeles Fashion Week Fashion Week in Los Angeles occurs biannually. Multiple show producers hold events throughout the Greater Los Angeles area each March and October. Traditionally, the City of Los Angeles identified the third weekend of those respective months as t ...

in 2013. In December 2013, Logo announced that Adore Delano was among 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of ''

''. Delano had previously competed for the

season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

fan-vote, ultimately losing to Penny Tration. Delano eventually went on to win three challenges and made it to the final three. Along with

Courtney Act Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of ''Australian Idol' ...

, Delano finished as runner-up to season winner

Bianca Del Rio Roy R. Haylock (born June 27, 1975), better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Since her time on ''Drag R ...

. Immediately following the finale of ''Drag Race'', Delano released the single "DTF" on May 20, 2014, as the lead single from their debut album ''

''. The full album was released on June 3, 2014, charting at number three on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart, 11 on the US

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by ''Billboard'' magaz ...

chart, and number fifty-nine on the ''Billboard'' 200. They released music videos for the majority of its tracks, including "I Adore U", which peaked at 49 on the US ''Billboard'' Dance/Electronic Songs. In November 2014, Delano announced that a second album was in the works with an anticipated 2015 release date. In May 2015, Delano announced they had started writing sessions for the album. Delano's album, ''After Party'', was set for release March 11, 2016. The first single, "Dynamite", was released on February 26, 2016; the second, "Take Me There", was released on March 10, 2016; and the third, "I.C.U.", was released on September 1, 2016. Adore was one of ten contestants on the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars'', but chose to leave the show in the second episode for personal reasons. Delano's third studio album, ''Whatever'', was released on August 18, 2017. In early 2019, Delano appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season eleven of ''Drag Race''. In June 2019, a panel of judges from ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

'' magazine placed her sixth on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former ''Drag Race'' contestants. Later that year, in August, Delano was featured on the cover of ''

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''Gay Times Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ media brand established in 1975. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company now includes content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

''. In December of that year, Delano joined the cast of the fourth season of ''

Ex on the Beach ''Ex on the Beach'' is a British reality television series that is broadcast on MTV. The series was first announced in February 2014, and premiered on 22 April 2014. The series is narrated by Andrew Maxwell. ''Ex on the Beach'' follows the for ...

'' appearing as both Danny and Adore.

Personal life

Noriega

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as gay at 12 years old. In a 2012 interview, she said she is not opposed to dating women. As of 2017, Noriega identifies as non-binary and uses any pronouns. Noriega says that "gender isn't a real thing... it's just something they came up with to categorize and control people".

Lawsuit

On April 4, 2017, Delano filed a lawsuit against former management company,

Producer Entertainment Group Producer Entertainment Group (PEG), also affiliated with Producer Entertainment Group Records (PEGR), is an American talent management firm and production company based in Burbank, California. The group manages LGBTQ+ talent across the globe, in ...

, alleging Delano had earned $2.5 million over the past three years, though only about $300,000 was actually paid. P.E.G. counter-sued in January 2018, alleging Delano owed the company $180,000 in management fees. The suit was dismissed by a judge who awarded no money to either party.

Discography

* ''

'' (2014) * '' After Party'' (2016) * '' Whatever'' (2017) *''Dirty Laundry'' (2021)

Tours

Headlining *Till Death Do Us Party Tour (2014–2015) *After Party Tour (2016–2017) *Birthday Tour (2017) *Whatever Tour (2018) *Time Hop Party Tour (2018) *A Pizza Me Tour (2019) *The Beautiful Idiots Tour (2020) *Dirty Laundry Tour (2021) *Party Your World Tour (2022-2023) Co-headlining act *Battle of the Seasons 2015 Condragulations Tour (2015) (with ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' Cast) *Battle of the Seasons 2016 Extravaganza Tour (2016) (with ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' Cast) *ABCD Tour (2018) (with

, and Darienne Lake) *Heels of Hell Tour (2019) *The Annual Halloween Sickening Ball Australia (2020) Promotional *After Party UK Promo Tour (2016) *The Ghost of Ohio United Kingdom Tour – opening for Andy Black (2019)

Awards and nominations

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Filmography

Film

Auditions

Web series

Music videos

References

External links

*
Danny Noriega
at IMDb * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delano, Adore Living people 21st-century American singers American Idol participants American musicians of Mexican descent American YouTubers Hispanic and Latino American drag queens Hispanic and Latino American musicians LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people LGBT people from California LGBT rights activists from the United States LGBT singers from the United States LGBT YouTubers People from Azusa, California Non-binary musicians

Adore Delano Daniel Anthony Noriega, (born September 29, 1989) better known under the stage name Adore Delano, is an American drag queen, singer-songwriter, and television personality. Noriega appeared as a contestant on the seventh season of ''American Idol ...

American gay musicians

YouTube vloggers Music YouTubers YouTubers who make LGBT-related content Singers from California Actors from California American drag queens Non-binary drag performers 21st-century LGBT people American male YouTubers 1989 births